Family Devotional Resources
Do you have a family devotional/worship/Bible time? If so, that’s great! If not, that’s okay! It’s never too late to start.
Having a family devotional time each night is something we’ve gotten in a routine of doing, and I’m so thankful for that. It’s been a great way to end our days and to instill a habit of acknowledging God in our lives as a family. We don’t do it perfectly. It doesn’t always go smoothly. Sometimes we skip. And every now and then we get out of the habit for a bit. All in all, we’ve found that it’s important to our family to have this time together.
What do we do? We read a devotional book and/or verses straight from the Bible. Then we pray and go to bed. I know some families sing a song or two during this time. I’d love to regularly incorporate that too, but we just haven’t done that yet.
One important thing I’m learning about when it comes to starting something new is this. You just have to start. Just start reading. Just start praying. Just start singing. Just start. It just takes one day to get it going. Then another. And another. And another. And before you know it, you’ve made it through an entire book of the Bible or devotional book. We started reading a storybook Bible to the girls before they would go to sleep at night when they were very young. Then we started reading a little preschool devotional. As they’ve gotten older we’ve read through a few books and some books of the Bible.
Please don’t get me wrong. It’s not about seeing how many books of the Bible you can read or how many devotion/discipleship books you can get into your kids’ heads. It’s about teaching our kids the importance of reading the Bible. It’s about teaching our kids how big and mighty God is. It’s about showing them how much we need Jesus in our lives. It’s about teaching them the good news that Jesus, God’s son came to the earth to live, die for our sins, and be raised so that we can have eternal life with him. We want our kids to know that he is our only hope in life and death.
There are many great resources out there, but it can be overwhelming to choose. So, I’d like to share with you some of our favorites that you might like to try. I hope this list is helpful to you!
I’m giving you links to these resources, but I am not receiving any compensation for sharing the products or for you purchasing them through the link.
The Bible. The Bible is the only book we really need. There are many great books out there, but we have to be careful not to let the words of man to take the place of the Word of God. God’s Word should be our ultimate source of hope, wisdom, guidance, and truth. Choose a book of the Bible and just start reading it out loud to your kids. Starting with one of the Gospels is great…Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Read through the creation story in Genesis. Journey through a book of wisdom, such as Proverbs. There are many Bible reading plans out there. Your church might have one, like mine does HERE, or you can get the one from Journey One Eighty HERE. No matter where you start, it will be good because God’s Word is good.
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.
Photo from risenmotherhood.com
A friend told me about the Risen Motherhood podcast a few years ago and I’ve been so encouraged by the content they put out. Not only do they give gospel centered encouragement for moms, but they share practical resources for moms to use to disciple their kids. These cards are simple, practical, and free. You just need a Bible and these discussion cards to use after reading a Bible passage of your choice. Risen Motherhood also gives other great book ideas for women and kids. Visit Risen Motherhood here. Get the printable cards here.
Foundations: 12 Biblical Truths to Shape a Family, by Ruth Chou Simons and Troy Simons. This book is simple enough for younger elementary kids, but deep enough to spur great conversation through the teen years. Some topics in this book are about loving God and others, walking wisely in Christ, forgiveness, giving generously, and encouraging others. I think we will go through this book again in the future, as I think we can all be reminded of these basic principles of the Bible that we get to live by.
Brighter Day Press is a small business run by a homeschool mom. She creates units of study for holidays and special days of the year. We have used a couple of them and plan to use the one she created for Valentine’s Day, which focuses on the four types of love….eros, philia, storge, and agape. Her studies are biblical and gospel centered. These units have book lists, recipes, crafts, and helpful lessons that could be used whether or not you homeschool. This resource isn’t really a devotional, but it’s definitely something you could use to teach your kids about the gospel. You can visit Brighter Day Press HERE.
Photo from www.notconsumed.com
Not Consumed is a website that was started by a single mom about ten years ago. I ran across this site a few years ago and really fell in love with her passion to create resources that help children and families grow in their faith. Kim writes Bible studies (for independent or family study) and created many other resources to help kids grow in their love for Christ. Even if you do not purchase any of her products, she has a ton of fun, practical discipleship ideas in her blog posts. Visit Not Consumed here.
100 Extraordinary Stories for Courageous Girls, by Jean Fischer. This book gives short biographies about women of faith from the Bible, history, or the present day. It’s so great to read about others who follow Jesus and be encouraged by the great faith they showed as they walked through through trials they faced in life. It was really neat to make connections to recent history or Bible lessons that we had gone through. A couple of times, we did further research on a particular person and were so inspired to learn more about their lives and how they trusted Jesus through such difficult situations. Each story included a painted portrait of the woman. It was fun to see an artist’s portrayal of that person, get a glimpse of what she may have looked like, and get a sense for the time period she lived in.
How Great is Our God: 100 Indescribable Devotions About God & Science, by Louie Giglio. We’ve just started reading this book this year and our science loving kids are really liking it! Each devotion has a Bible verse, a prayer, a short science “lesson”, and a life application. God’s majesty is portrayed on each page through a short description of how intricately he created a particular part of creation. I’m looking forward to continuing this book and seeing what else we get to learn about creation and how amazing our God is!
I hope these ideas are helpful to you!